USS Beckham (APA-133) was a Haskell-class attack transport acquired by the U.S. Navy for the task of transporting troops to and from combat areas. It was launched on 14 Oct 1944 at San Pedro, California by the California Shipbuilding Co., under a Maritime Commission contract (MCV hull 49) and commissioned on 10 Dec 1944.

Beckham loaded cargo at Oakland, California and got underway on 8 Feb 1945 for the Marshall Islands. The ship reached Eniwetok atoll on 22 Feb and discharged cargo for the U.S. Marine Corps garrison on Engebi Island.

On the night of the 13 Mar 1945, Beckham and her consorts moved into their assigned places off Iwo Jima. On 18 March she began taking on board elements of the 4th Marine Division and got underway on 20 Mar in convoy with task unit TU 51.29.2 headed for the Marianas. She reached Apra Harbor, Guam, on 22 Mar.

Pushing on via Eniwetok the ship reached Pearl Harbor on 4 Apr 1945. After disembarking the Marines at Kahului on Maui, she returned to Pearl Harbor on 7 Apr 1945 and devoted the next few days to ship's work and taking on fuel, water, and supplies. She got underway again on 20 Apr 1945 for a week of intensive amphibious exercises at Maalea Bay, Maui. The Beckham embarked 8 May 1945 with several Army units and sailed for the Marshalls in convoy PD-399T.

Beckham fueled at Eniwetok before resuming her voyage to Okinawa on 20 May 1945. Reaching Ulithi on 24 May, the Beckham and her passengers awaited orders which finally came on 20 June. Underway that day, she headed for the Ryūkyūs in convoy WOK-27, arrived off Okinawa's Hagushi beachhead on the afternoon of 24 Jun, and commenced disembarking troops and unloading cargo.

Beckham anchored off Jinsen, Korea on 8 Sep and commenced unloading men and cargo. Her landing craft (LCVP) not only took her cargo ashore but brought back former Allied prisoners of war who had been incarcerated there, 138 Americans veterans of Bataan and 30 British, some of whom had been in captivity since the fall of Singapore in Feb 1942.

The attack transport got underway for the Philippines on 22 Sep and reached Guiuan Roadstead, off Samar, on the 25th. Underway again on 5 Oct, Beckham skirted another typhoon on the 7th. During her voyage she sighted six floating mines which USS Tinsman (DE-589) destroyed. At night, Beckham used her searchlights to spot drifting ordnance.

Anchoring in the Gulf of Pohai, China, on 14 Oct, Beckham discharged passengers and cargo for Tientsin before proceeding to the Shantung Peninsula. She disembarked the remainder of her passengers and unloaded cargo at Tsingtao before sailing on the 27th. Beckham arrived at Manila on the morning of 3 Nov and sailed for San Francisco on the 6th with 1,970 passengers, a capacity load of military humanity that spilled into the cargo holds and onto the decks. Beckham refueled at Midway Island and entered the Golden Gate on 26 Nov. The attack transport then sailed for Hunters Point for minor repairs and reconditioning of underwater hull, repairs that continued into Dec 1945.

Beckham commenced her last Navy voyage on 16 Feb 1946 when she sailed for Norfolk, Virginia. Transiting the Panama Canal on the 24th, she reached her destination on 7 Mar. Decommissioned at Norfolk on 25 Apr 1946, Beckham was turned over to the War Shipping Administration on 29 Apr 1946. Her name was struck from the Navy List on 8 May 1946, and she was berthed with the Maritime Commission's National Defense Reserve Fleet. The former attack transport remained inactive until sold on 5 Sep 1974 to Sparreboom Shipbrokers to be broken up for scrap.